The woolly bear is a fuzzy furry
little creature that evolves into a beautiful butterfly. Known for
its fuzzy coat of hair, dark on both ends and reddish brown in the middle,
the woolly bear caterpillar is actually the larvae of the tiger moth and
not a butterfly at all..

It once was thought that the woolly
bear caterpillar was the larvae of the Monarch butterfly, but it is not.
Moths are a quite a bit different and usually have smaller features, and
tend to be plain in color than the butterfly. However, the tiger moth can
be quite beautiful

Woolly bears are most often found
in the late fall crawling around on roadways and walkways trying to keep
warm in the bright fall sunshine. They are dormant through out the
winter months. In the spring, they form a cocoon andpresto!!!
they emerge as one of the true splendors of mother nature.

There long has been a tradition
with the woolly bear caterpillar that he can predict the weather.
Well call it what you want but I have been following this for the 15th
year now with 90% accuracy or better. It was totally off one of those
years (Actually, it may have been right that year too because I think
I caught one too early in the season and got the wrong reading) and I only
gave it an 85% rating of accuracy for the Winter of 2000 - 2001.
One has to make the reading on the ones you find in October just after
we begin to get some hard frosts.

Yes by now you are thinking that
this guy must be ready for you know that funny place that they would normally
lock guys who talk like this in. Well this works and I am sticking
by my little pal and sticking my neck out on his behalf for everyone to
see. This is very important business, so much so that I have labeled
it "Woolly Bear Scientology"